Tbansactions at the Annual Meeting. 127 



the statement, other nurserj^men do not agree with you. I can 

 only reply, some of them do not agree with themselves ; some- 

 times they have recommended crab roots and then condemned 

 them. Now, notwithstanding I was too poor and old to spend money 

 or strength merely to take the conceit out of the heads of these 

 wise ones, still I concluded to take a few trees from our nursery 

 at " Mount Hope," near La Crosse, grafted on crab roots, to the 

 state fair, at Madison, last September. 



These trees were more than twice as large as those of the same 

 age exhibited by my competitor, Mr. Plumb, and this is about the 

 way he went for me then : "I should think you were old enough 

 to know better than to grow trees as fast as you have those. They 

 will not stand the winter; the wood is immature, it is yellow." 

 My reply was, " I think not." After the committee had awarded 

 me the premium, I found a limb of one of my trees had been cut 

 off, to the preceding year's growth. I asked Mr. Plumb if he did 

 it? He said, "Yes." "Well, how did you find the wood?" 

 "It is all right." was the reply. 



I will say I find it extremely difficult to suit you. First, it is 

 dwarfing ; next, the trees are too large. Perhaps the medium I 

 may find to suit, Now, gentlemen, one of your own number has 

 told the whole story about this crab theory, and Mr. Plumb de- 

 serves the credit. 



In the report for 1872, Mr. Tuttle recommended the Transcend- 

 ent crab for a stock to top work the standard apple on, and said : 

 "I have full faith that this method of top grafting on a hardy 

 stock will insure us a hardier class of trees than those grown in 

 the ordinary way. I believe it from the fact that wherever the 

 experiment has been tried, it has worked well. I believe it is 

 common for every tree propagator to have some pet scheme, some 

 hobby to ride. I confess I am mounted on this and intend riding 

 until I am unhorsed by future experiments." Have you been un- 

 horsed, Mr. Tuttle? If so, tell the public how, when and where. 

 We want to hear from you. This is the object of our society. 

 Mr. Plumb said, " This is an interesting theme. The only true 

 way is as often as possible to top work, congeniality of stock and 

 cion always in view." 



